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Landmark Airlines Flight 37
Landmark Airlines Flight 37 was a scheduled intercontinental passenger flight between London Gatwick Airport, United Kingdom to Boston Logan International Airport, Massachusetts, USA. On Tuesday, July 19, 1988, the McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30 crash landed due to a landing gear failure at Boston Logan Int'l Airport, Massachusetts, USA, killing 141 in total of the 186 passengers and 11 crew. The cause of the crash was determined to be a small crack in the rear left landing gear, caused by a sharp metal object (probably a screwdriver) during a routine landing gear check four years prior in 1984. The crack had gone unnoticed during the four years leading up to the accident until the landing gear ultimately failed during the landing. Accident Aircraft & Crew The aircraft involved was a 14-year-old McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30, registered N4092L, built in Long Beach, California and delivered to Landmark in August, 1973. Together with it's sister aircraft, N4094L, it was used extensively on routes to Europe during the summer of 1987 and winter of 1988. This was due to the late arrivals of the Boeing 747-400's Landmark had ordered in 1987 for it's new european routes. In this time the aircraft had accumulated around 2,100 cycles (a cycle being a takeoff and landing). N4092L had flown the journey from Boston to Gatwick the previous evening and arrived at 2:35 AM British Summer Time (1:35 UTC) and was on its return journey to journey. The Pilot in Command was 57-year-old Captain Jon Widlak born in Milwaukee, wisconsin. A retired airforce pilot, he had first flown for Atlantis Airways until he was fired during a cost-saving program in 1975 just before the airline went bankrupt. He went unemployed for three until he was hired by Landmark Airlines in 1977. The First Officer was 29-year-old Kevin Lister from Exeter, Rhode Island. He was also an airforce pilot for two years until he was offered to fly DC-10's for Landmark Airlines. He was hired in 1985 and had accumulated around 3,000 flight hours, all of which was on the DC-10. The Flight Engineer was 50-year-old Jack Connolly who was born in Baltimore, Maryland. He flew for Emerald Harbor Air until he was fired during a short lived strike in 1968 for higher pay. He was re-hired by Landmark after its acquisition of Emerald Harbor Air in 1969 and continues as a Flight Engineer on the Boeing 727-100's, before being transferred to the McDonnell Douglas DC-10 in the fall of 1973. Also in the cockpit was Canadian-born Captain Éric Bedard, who flew N4092L from Boston to Gatwick the evening before. He was returning home to his sick wife. Flight N4092L took off from London Gatwick's 08R at 4:56 BST (03:56 UTC) and turned northbound flying over Ireland before continuing over the Atlantic Ocean. At around 7:01 AM a fight broke out between to passengers in the forward section of economy class. The fight was reported to the police by a flight attendant while another intervened to fight. One of the two men was hit in the head and reseated to the back of the plane to prevent further fighting. This decision would prove life saving. Accident At 5:59 AM Eastern Daylight Time (9:59 UTC) the aircraft began its decent in to Boston Logan just as the sun was rising. At this point the pilots were informed that police was waiting at the gate to take the two men in to custody. At 6:40 EDT (10:40 UTC) First Officer Lister reported that the localizer for runway 33L was captured. The airplane was handed over to the tower controller who cleared the plane to land. During the decent down to the runway Captain Wilak encountered problems with capturing the glideslope. As the plane pitched down about 3° degrees nose down, Wilak ordered his co-pilot to disconnect the autopilot calling: "My aircraft.". The aircraft continued to fly above the accident being 100-200 feet above it. At 6:42 EDT (10:42 UTC) the landing gear was lowered in hope of bringing the aircraft down to the glideslope. The Captain, as well as lowering the landing gear also called for the flaps to be retracted to 35° degrees and the throttles were pulled back resulting in a rapid decent which Wilak combated by applying nearly full thrust to gain more airspeed. At 6:44 AM EDT (10:44 UTC) the DC-10 made a hard of approximately 300-350 feet per minute. Two seconds later, the rear left landing gear collapsed causing the plane to veer to the left. Because of the stress that was put on the rear center landing as well as the forward landing gear; they collapsed too. When the left wing hit the ground fuel tanks ruptured and were set alight. The plane then broke up in to two parts; the rear section's (which had broke apart about three rows behind the wing) lower fuselage collapsed but continued upright. The forward part turned upside down, trapping the passengers and crew inside and coming to a halt on runway 27 nearly hitting a company Boeing 737-400 about to cross before bursting in to flames. Aftermath Immediate Aftermath The crash could be witnessed from virtually everywhere over the airport. The Tower Controller immediately set off the alarm and the airport was closed, diverting inbound traffic and grounding outbound going aircraft. The Boeing 737-400 was evacuated as the emergency response vehicles arrived at the accident scene. All attention was quickly put on the forward section on fire. This decision has later caused some controversy. During the autopsy it was discovered that four of the passengers in the rear section died of their injuries because of not being treated immediately. No passengers could be saved from the front section as the fuselage burned down in just under eight minutes. 22 passengers and two flight attendants were freed from the rear section, many of them with serious injuries, one dying of his wounds in the hospital two weeks later. Investigation The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) initially suspected that a hard landing had occurred after the as the rear left and center landing gear, as well as the forward landing gear had been found lying on the threshold of the runway. Category:Orbit Airlines Accidents and Incidents